Latest Area News Headlines

LUVERNE – The Madison, South Dakota man accused of vehicular homicide in the death of Steen woman Andrea Boeve made a brief appearance in Rock County District Court Monday with his public defender Virginia Barron.

Christopher Weber, age 25, pleaded not guilty to both the felony and gross misdemeanor vehicular homicide or operation and requested a jury trial.

Weber was charged after the incident involving his pickup and Boeve’s bicycle June 30 near Steen. The criminal complaint states that upon questioning, Weber allegedly admitted he was looking at his cell phone to do some...

ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa - The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced low-interest federal disaster loans are being made available to residents and business owners in several northwest Iowa counties affected by severe weather and flooding recently. The loans are also available to those in several affected counties in southwest Minnesota and parts of South Dakota.

The loans are being made available to residents in the primary counties of Lyon and Sioux, and contiguous counties of Cherokee, O'Brien, Osceola and Plymouth in Iowa. It also includes neighboring Minnesota counties of...

WORTHINGTON — Six of Worthington Public Utilities’ seven wells at the Lake Bella Wellfield lost ground in the last week, dropping in water levels anywhere from 1 inch to 1 foot, 3 inches.

General Manager Scott Hain said Well 26, the one used to gauge the city’s water supply, dropped 7 inches in the past seven days, and as a result, the ban on non-essential watering will remain in place within the city of Worthington. This means city residents are not allowed to water their lawns or gardens, or wash their vehicles in their yard. The ban is being enforced and violators should be...

WORTHINGTON – The City of Worthington Engineering Department has been busy this week, completing two projects while working on another. Turf restoration on the Nobles Street water and sewer reconstruction project from Minnesota 60 to Orchard Road was completed Wednesday, as was the drainage structure work on the concrete walkway project at Lake Street and Seventh Avenue.

Work continues along Lake Street and Lake Avenue from near Seventh Avenue to East of May Street.

Water main reconstruction began Tuesday at the intersection of Omaha Avenue and Dover Street, with work...

FULDA – The city of Fulda will have a water shut-down from 8 a.m. to noon today for water tower maintenance. Residents may have cloudy water when service resumes.

WORTHINGTON – Gov. Mark Dayton Wednesday requested that President Barack Obama declare a major disaster in Minnesota as a result of heavy rainstorms and flooding that began June 11. In a letter to the president, Dayton described widespread flood damage across Minnesota, and noted that he has expanded the state’s peacetime state of emergency to include 16 additional counties – bringing the total counties impacted to 51....

WORTHINGTON – Gov. Mark Dayton Wednesday requested that President Barack Obama declare a major disaster in Minnesota as a result of heavy rainstorms and flooding that began June 11. In a letter to the president, Dayton described widespread flood damage across Minnesota, and noted that he has expanded the state’s peacetime state of emergency to include 16 additional counties – bringing the total counties impacted to 51.

To date, $10.8 million in eligible damages have been documented through preliminary damage assessments in several counties, including Jackson, Murray, Nobles,...

WORTHINGTON – The Nobles County Commissioners on Tuesday approved a request from Sheriff Kent Wilkening to hire Chris Dybevick as the new Chief Deputy, replacing the recently retired Chris Heinrichs. Dybevick is currently the captain of the Worthington Police Department, where he has served for the past 27 years.

Wilkening is anticipating a start date of August 7 for Dybevick. According to the request Wilkening submitted to the board, he feels Dybevick has the supervisory and leadership experience needed to assist the sheriff in running the office. There would be no financial...

WORTHINGTON – After a lot of years dressed in blue Worthington Police Captain Chris Dybevick will soon be switching to brown. The Nobles County Commissioners today approved a request from Nobles County Sheriff Kent Wilkening to replace the recently retired Chris Heinrichs with Dybevick, hiring him away from the police department after 27 years with WPD and over to the sheriff’s office in the position of chief deputy.

According to the request Wilkening submitted to the board, he feels Dybevick has the supervisory and leadership experience needed to assist the sheriff in running the...

WORTHINGTON – According to information released Monday by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, a downtown Worthington site is being recommended for placement on the State Superfund Program due to elevated levels of chlorinated volatile organic compounds. Currently a paved lot, the site at 1101 Second Avenue was home to the Exclusive Cleaners from 1969 to 1998 and prior to that housed a gas station.

The site has been under investigation for more than 20 years.

In the last two years, soil gas samples collected from the site show concentrations of the drycleaning solvent...

WORTHINGTON – Customers looking for a bargain were flocking to Peebles at Northland Mall Monday as word got out that everything was on clearance.

Peebles is the latest store to pull out of the troubled mall. Signs on the front of the building state the store is closing and everything must go. According to a sales associate, Peebles employees were informed last week that the store was closing, and clearance sales began Saturday. The store is expected to be out of the mall by the end of the month.

A call to the Stage Store Inc offices, the corporate office of Peebles, was not...